MORE SIGNS OF CORRUPTION IN INDIA'S GOVERNMENT

Excerpts from an article in the The Wall Street Journal

contributed by Dennis Hanisch

In March of 2001 I wrote about the Indian news Web site Tehelka exposing gross corruption at the highest levels of government in India and thus nearly bringing Prime Minister Vajpayee's coalition down. (Please read my post #13506 on Dr. Lane's club including extracts from the DALLAS MORNING NEWS.) The important and widely financial newspaper the WALL STREET JOURNAL (Aug 28, p b10) recently  ran an article regarding the persecution of the Indian govt. leveled against Tehelka.com and other journalists criticizing the Government.

This is extremely significant as many high officials of the Indian government have been at SSB's feet many times. Furthermore, SSB has indicated that as the "Golden Age" begins, India will lead the other nations of the world in positive change and transformation.

Extracts from THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ARTICLE

by Scott Newman

NEW DELHI--A news team that nearly bought down India's government  last year with an explosive expose' of corruption in politics is now itself on the verge of collapse-a victim, some media watchdogs and journalists say, of a new eagerness of Indian authorities to stifle critical journalism.

In March last year, the Indian news Web site Tehelka.com blew the lid  off of corruption at the very top levels of government in India with hidden camera sting operation. The Web site's journalists posed as arms dealers who were ready to pay for help in securing military contracts. Numerous senior army officers, top politicians and government bureaucrats were caught on tape either accepting bribes or

discussing the details of payment.

Amid the public outrage that ensued, senior members of the government of Prime Minister Atal Biharj Vajpayee and its coalition parties resigned. Among them: Defense Minister George Fernandes and the chief of Mr. Fernandes' Samata Paraty, Jaya Jaitley.

But a lot has changed in a year: Mr Fernandes has his old job back, and Ms Jaitley remains a senior leader of the Samata Party. Meanwhile, two of Tehlka's journalists have been arrested, and police and other authorities have raided its offices and those of its financial backers several times. The first raid, by income-tax agents, came 10 days after Tehelka released its story.

One of the Tehelka journalists, who is still being held, has been charged with illegal poaching of animals. Tehlka denies the charges and says the reporter was working on an investigative report into the  illegal trade in animal skins..........

Tehelka's editor, Tarun Tejpal, characterizes the actions taken against his group and its backers as "a massive vendetta campaign" that has hit them hard financially. He says the Web site's staff has shrunk to about 20 people from 120. "Of those [who] are left, not one has been paid a salary in six month." he says.

No doubt, the bursting of the Internet bubble may have contributed to Tehelka's financial troubles, but many fellow journalists see more to it than that.

"It's gotten to the stage where no journalist in this country can sit back and allow them to do what they're doing To Tehelka," says Vir Sanghvi, editor of the leading English-language daily, the Hindustan times. "The level of persecution is phenomenal."

This major scandal in India and now the persecution of investigative journalists should be a red flag for us all. When is SSB going to clean up his own backyard? Has not SSB left a leagacy of many broken promises? Isn't it pass time to realize our delusion?